


Stranger

by butthulu



Series: TAZ Gem AU [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Steven Universe AU, davenchurch is kind of a background relationship in this fic sorry guys, gem au, this is a blupjeans-centric fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 21:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13819959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butthulu/pseuds/butthulu
Summary: Never in Barry Bluejeans' life did he expect to meet such an exceptional being as her.(Steven Universe/Gem AU)





	Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Barry sees her is at the beach.

The first time Barry sees her is at the beach. He’s sitting on the grass just before soil gives way to sand, reading a book, and she crosses his peripheral vision. He looks up, squinting into the sun. She strides over from the direction of the cliffs that hang over the beach, her gait fake-confident like she’s trying to cover up the fact that she’s doing something she’s not supposed to, and then she crouches down in the sand by the waves. She’s got on some sort of…. swimsuit, yeah, a swimsuit checks out. The swimsuit is a one-piece, and it’s light purple, and it’s got some sort of transparent fancy ruffle around the hips, like someone started to attach a skirt to the waist of it, just on the sides, and then stopped abruptly. She’s doing something with the sand, sifting it through her fingers, it looks like. Barry figures she’s just a swimmer, so he minds his own business, and tries to ignore her presence.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The second time he sees her several days later, she approaches him. She’s still got that swimsuit on, which is, yeah, they’re at the _beach_ , sure, but people go to the beach without swimsuits on all the time, and she doesn’t seem to actually go into the water with it- at least, she didn’t, last time. She’s got her hair pulled back in a low ponytail, this time(he thinks he vaguely remembers it was down, last time), and she sits down next to him without any preamble or greeting, peering over his shoulder at his book. Naturally, he leans away from her- closing his book with a finger in the middle to save his page- and she looks up at him with a puzzled frown.  
  
“What?” He asks, after a moment.  
  
“Could ask that of you, myself,” she replies, snorting. “Why’d you lean away? I was trying to get a good look at that… whatever that is, in your hands. What is it, anyways?”  
  
“It’s. A book? Do- do you not know what a book is?” His eyebrows furrow, and he frowns. “Who _are_ you?”  
  
“Pearl, cut 9-IP,” she replies automatically, and then grimaces. “You can call me Pearl, I…. guess.” She looks a bit like she’s waiting for him to insult her, but he just keeps looking at her, so she continues hurriedly, “Anyways, who are _you_? Obviously you’re a human, but I’ve never met a human before. You all look so different, it’s weird.”  
  
Barry’s frown increases in severity, but only because he’s confused. Humans? She’s talking like she’s not a human. Isn’t she a human? She sure looks like one, even if she’s…. well, pretty weird, if Barry’s gonna be honest with himself.  
  
“You’re…. not a human, then?” He asks. She shakes her head. “What are you, then?”  
  
She gives him a look like he’s dumb, or something. “I told you, I’m a pearl.”  
  
“I thought you said that’s your name, though?”  
  
A grimace warps her mouth into a moue of frustration. “It can be both. Are you going to tell me about that thing in your hands? The book? I want to know about it.”  
  
Barry thinks about that for a moment, and then nods. “Yeah, alright.” Can’t do any harm, he supposes. He opens his book back up, and shows her the lines of text. “Can you read this?” She shakes her head. “Do you want me to read out loud? I can start from the beginning, if you want. You can read along over my shoulder, too.”  
  
After a bit of consideration, she nods. So he bookmarks the page, and flips back to the beginning. It’s The Princess Bride, which is an oldie but a goodie. Although he has to explain several concepts to her that she doesn’t understand, like what a “princess” or a “pirate” is(or marriage, which is a much longer and more awkward conversation), they get through most of the book by the time the sun sets, and even then, he tries to read to her in the settling darkness, until he can’t make out any of the words at all.  
  
“Sorry,” he says, his mouth dry from so much talking. He’s thirstier than he can ever remember being in his entire life. He doesn’t really mind all that much.  
  
“For what?”  
  
“That- well, uh, that I can’t read any more to you, today. Not enough light,” he replies. That gets him a shrug, and she starts to walk away, but he calls out to her, reaching out his hand as if to offer it to shake. “W- wait! Uh- I forgot to tell you, my name is Barry.”  
  
She turns, and looks at his hand for a second like she’s not sure what to do with it. He lets it drop. He asks, “Do you want to- I mean, we could. Do this again, maybe? I really liked it. Today, I mean. We could do it again tomorrow!” He hates how his voice cracks, partially from nerves, partially from lack of water. It makes him sound desperate.  
  
She squints at him, and he feels like he’s being evaluated, like she’s trying to decide if he’s worth it, and isn’t sure, yet. “Maybe,” is all she says, before turning away once more and walking back in the direction of the cliffs. Barry watches her go until she’s out of sight, and then turns towards the town and walks home. Later, he has a terrible sunburn on his face and arms, and all he can think is, _She was worth it._  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The next day, he’s there, and she’s not. He keeps the place he left off in The Princess Bride, and waits until the sun has gone down and he can’t read any longer, but she doesn’t turn up. (He makes sure to put on sunscreen, this time.) In fact, she doesn’t turn up until about a week later, and she looks…. Different. She’s still got the swimsuit on, that much is apparent, but the shoulders look different, with ruffles on them as well, and instead of ending like a normal one piece swimsuit, it becomes a pair of equally skintight shorts, ending at the knee. The hip ruffles are still there, though. Barry thinks it makes her look like a mermaid.  
  
“I’ve been gone awhile,” she says, in way of apology, and he nods. She stands there for a moment, and when he doesn’t tell her to go away, she sits down next to him. “You saved the spot?”  
  
Actually, he’s on to a different book, now, but he brought The Princess Bride, as well. They’re about three quarters of the way through, so they manage to finish before late afternoon, and when it ends, they stare out at the ocean for a few minutes, sitting in a contented silence. She is the first one to break it.  
  
“Barry?”  
  
“Mm?”  
  
“Why do all of these people have different names? And were all the names of different places the names of other planets?”  
  
“What?” He blinks. “No, they’re- they’re countries. Our world, Earth, right, is divided into different parts, right, with their own people, different subdivisions of humans, different cultures. The largest parts are called continents-”  
  
“I know what a continent is, Barry.”  
  
He blushes, nodding, before he continues. “Right, and the smaller parts, within continents, are countries. There can be many different countries on a continent, or there can be only one or two. Some countries are very large, and others are only about the size of the town behind us, maybe a little bit bigger. As for the names…..” It’s hard to explain that, so he lapses into silence as he tries to find a way to explain it.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“I’m thinking.” He sighs, tapping his chin with the tips of his fingers. “Names are a way of identifying us, obviously. You told me your name was…. Pearl 9-IO?”  
  
“9-IP. IO is… my. Friend.” She looks uncertain at the identification.  
  
Barry nods. “Well, humans don’t have numbers to identify us. It’s not seen as… it’s degrading. N- not that I’m degrading you, or anything! B- but that’s why humans don’t tend to be named with numbers. And we have- well, not all of us have unique names, but we aren’t- augh, this is so hard to explain.” He sighs staring hard at the sand like it holds the answers, and then looks over at her. “Who _are_ you?” He asks again, squinting from behind his glasses.  
  
“I’m a Pearl, Pearl cut 9-IP! I don’t know what else you want from me, Barry, that’s- that’s who I am. That _is_ my name. My identification.” She throws up her hands before dropping them in her lap in an expression of frustration, before she scoots away a little, making like she’s going to get up. “Nevermind, you don’t understand. I should go.”  
  
Barry gets to his feet as well- scrambling, really. She skitters away from him, like, like he might _hit_ her, and he freezes. She runs.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The next day, she doesn’t come back.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Barry looks up from his book to see her, a full three weeks later, wearing a jacket over the same outfit she had before. It’s a ratty red thing, and looks like it was salvaged from a dumpster, but she wears it like a suit of armor. It looks good on her. Barry makes to stand up, and she backs away a step, so he sets back down and looks up at her. A long silence sits between them, and she breaks it, again.  
  
“I think I should explain to you exactly what I am. Can we go somewhere else, with no humans around?” Her tone barely has any inflection to it, excepting the slight upwards lilt indicating her question, and it feels… wrong. Barry nods, hesitantly. She starts to walk away, towards the cliffs, and he follows her, leaving his bookbag on the grass.  
  
They round the corner, out of sight of the town, and her shoulders sag- not exactly relaxing, but not quite so tense. She goes ahead, to the lip that Barry knows hides a huge semicircular alcove along the cliff, and stares at something off in the alcove, but doesn’t actually approach, and since she doesn’t gesture for him to come forward, he stays where he is. Still, she looks surprised that he stayed put when she turns back to him. She leans against the stone wall, and he stays still, looking across at her.  
  
“You may have come to the obvious conclusion that I’m not.... a human.”  
  
Barry snorts. “No, I would never have known. I mean, you kind of told me in our first interaction.” She sends him a withering glare and rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t leave, so he obviously hasn’t offended her too much. She starts to play with her ponytail with one hand, but her right hand stays in her pocket.  
  
“Yeah. Well, I’m not. I’m a gem. A Pearl. I told you, didn’t I? I mean- I didn’t tell you what I meant, but that’s not the point, I didn’t-” She huffs. “Whatever! I’m not human. I’m a gem. See this?” She yanks her right hand out of her pocket, and shoves it at him, showing him the back of it.  
  
Taking up most of the space on the back of her right hand, from just above the crook of her wrist to just short of her knuckles, is a big, oblong pearl, shiny and cream-colored. He’s not sure why he never noticed it before, in their previous interactions. It’s got a long, thin protrusion on the side, but otherwise it’s perfect. Quite lovely, actually, in Barry’s opinion, but she’s looking at him like she’s afraid of an outburst from him, again, so he just says, slowly, “Ooookay? Yes. I see that. It’s. A….. pearl. ‘S very pretty. How’d you get it to stay on your hand like that?” He makes a move as if to take her hand into his own, to inspect it more closely, but she retracts it, so he drops his hand.  
  
“It’s not _on_ my hand, it’s in my hand, and- ughh. You’re not going to believe me, you’re a human, _humans_ don’t have this sort of- of reference for _anything_ like this!” She cards her gemless hand through her ponytail in agitation, and Barry sighs, putting his hand over his mouth and thinking.  
  
She keeps glancing from the ground to Barry, and she looks like she wants to run, but he speaks up before she can. “Hold on, okay, I’m thinking about this. You say…. You’re that gem. That gem is you. You…. _are_ a gem? Is it Gem with a capital G, or just- nevermind, you don’t know the alphabet, I’ll ask you later. Anyways, you are the gem. Yeah?”  
  
She nods, relief washing over her features. “Yes! And, and the body, the one you see, all of this awesomeness?” She makes a sweeping gesture over herself, swimsuit and all, and then amends, “Except the jacket, I guess, that’s new, but all of this? It’s just hard light. It’s a projection. A hologram you can touch.”  
  
Well, that doesn’t make any sense, but then again, neither does the whole “she’s a gem” thing. Gemstones can’t- or, at least, they aren’t, from what he knows, capable of sentience, or that level of high-powered, finely tuned ability or energy output that hard light would require. They’re just _rocks_! They can’t do anything like this.  
  
Her, though? She can. That’s the important part. He’s not going to ignore evidence that’s right in front of his eyes, and he’s not going to discount or dismiss what she’s saying, especially because he has a pretty firm suspicion that he might be the only human she knows. He has an obligation to make a good first impression on her, and also, he just kind of likes making her happy, which is a feeling he is definitely going to unpack later. Now isn’t a good time for that.  
  
“Okay,” he says, nodding. “Yeah. I believe you. I mean, I have no reason not to, you have no reason to lie to me, and it’s not like I can really prove that you _aren’t_ what you say you are. It…. really would explain a lot about you, like! Like how you don’t know what a country is.” A thought occurs to him, and he frowns. “Do you really not have a name?”  
  
“Pearl _is_ my name,” she insists, but she doesn’t sound so sure about that.  
  
“Well…. Do you want it to be? You can choose a different name.”  
  
Shock widens her eyes and causes her mouth to drop open, and it’s a good few seconds before she asks, disbelievingly, “You can _choose_ a name? Just- just like that?”  
  
“Well, sure. My name used to be Sildar, but, uh, I didn’t really like that name? So I chose Barry instead. It’s kind of a dorky name, but-”  
  
“No, I like it,” she interrupts, a small smile blooming across her face, and it makes him feel like some sort of knot in his chest just came undone. He can’t help but smile back. She steps closer, towards the town, and then starts to walk in that direction again, and when he follows, she asks, “How do I choose a name?”  
  
“Well,” he begins, “It’s different for everyone. Some people experiment, and go by different names for a while until they find something that clicks. Other people keep their original name and only change it when they feel like they’ve found something they like. It really varies. Um, do you eat? I could- we could go, and eat, if you want. I don’t think you’ve ever had human food before, have you?”  
  
She gives him an odd look. “What’s “food”?"  
  
Oh, lord, he _has_ to show her food. He picks up the pace, picking up his bookbag on the way, and she follows, and soon enough, they’re seated at the best Mexican restaurant in town. It might be a bit rich to start her off with, but it’s Barry’s favorite place to eat, and he’s absolutely sure that she’ll like it. Then he has a thought.  
  
“You’re made of hard light,” he says. She nods. “Right, so…. Will it just pass through you? What’s going to happen to the food? Do you-” He stops, because something has just occurred to him.  
  
He’s going to have to show her how to eat. God, this is so weird.  
  
When the chips come, Barry explains to her how eating works, and although she looks somewhat nauseous by the time he’s done explaining, she says she’s still willing to try it. She likes the chips well enough, and the salsa even better, enough that she dumps a whole bowl of it into her mouth.  
  
“It _burns_ , Barry,” she enthuses, eyes sparkling. So, she likes spicy stuff. He checks that down on a mental list. Hell, he breaks out his sketchbook and makes an actual list, right there on the table. He explains to her, when she asks, what he’s doing, and she agrees that it’s probably a good idea; she could probably keep all of it straight on her own, but it’s best to have a backup.  
  
When the waiter comes back, he orders a platter, and two of his personal favorite dishes; it’s expensive, but he’ll have leftovers for later, and he can send her home(wherever that is) with them, too. He assumes she probably didn’t come here alone, so she might convince her friends to try it. She doesn’t question how much food he ordered, but when it arrives, her eyes widen. “That’s… a lot.”  
  
Barry nods. “Yeah, but I wanted you to be able to try a lot of things, a lot of different flavors, you know? And we can always save what we don’t eat for later.” He starts to transfer parts of the dishes onto his own plate, and she follows suit after observing how he does it, and how he holds the utensils. Once she’s got her portions, he shows her how to properly use the utensils to eat with, and she does, and digs in with unrivalled enthusiasm. Barry watches her for a moment, before he starts in on his food as well. When she gives a soft, but notable groan of happiness, he looks back up, and she points to one of the dishes- the original plate she got it from.  
  
“What _is_ this?? It’s _sooo_ good!” She takes another bite while waiting for his answer, humming again in pleasure. “Oh my _stars_ , so good.”  
  
Barry peers at it, and makes an “ah” sound. “That’s the, uh, chalupa. Yeah. They’re made of corn, and shaped into a little bowl, so they can put stuff inside. That one’s got pork, salsa, lettuce, bean paste, and cheese. I’ll show you what all that stuff is later. It’s good, right??”  
  
“ _So_ good,” she agrees, taking another bite. “How is this made?”  
  
He explains to her how cooking works, and how humans have to consume a lot of food to keep living, and in turn, she tells him that gems don’t need any external energy source to survive; they just keep going and going, until they’re shattered, or corrupted. He asks her what “corruption” is, but she just shakes her head, and he accepts that.  
  
“Hypothetically,” she informs him around a mouthful of food, “a gem could live.... forever. Obviously we haven’t gotten there yet, but the oldest gems are the Diamonds, and they’ve been alive for tens of thousands of years at least- probably longer. Don’t- don’t ask me about them, though, yet. Please? It’s not a fun conversation, and I really like having fun with you, Barry. You’re fun. This is fun. The Diamonds are not fun.”  
  
So he doesn’t ask. But god, he wants to know, he wants to know so bad it itches, it nags at the back of his mind and he has to focus on his food to get his curiosity to shut up. She’ll tell him when she feels ready, so he just has to wait.  
  
She thinks he’s fun, though. Thinking about that makes a blush rise to his cheeks, and when she asks about it, he laughs softly and says, “You’re fun too. Uh, do you want to take some boxes of this home with you? I, I, uh, assume you have friends? You could try and convince them to try food, too.”  
  
The thought clearly catches hold; he can tell from the way she tilts her head and stares off into the middle distance like she’s imagining trying. She nods absently, and mutters, “That’s a good idea. I doubt I could get rainy to try it, but maybe…. 9-IO? Nah, she’d think it’s gross. I mean, it is, but it’s also really good… Biggs might like it. Yeah. Not sure about cap’n. Anyways!” She snaps back into reality and gives Barry a smile. “Next time we meet, which will definitely be tomorrow, or the next day, I’ll tell you why I was gone so long, the first time, ‘fore I came back. You know, three weeks ago? For the rest of the book?”  
  
He knows the day. He could barely forget it, the way she skittered back away from him, replaying like a loop of film in his head, over and over. Barry hadn’t been sure what he’d done wrong, but maybe… he didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe it wasn’t about him, and he feels bad about the fact that the incident makes his curiosity deepen. Who would hurt her like that, to the point where her reflex was to wait to be insulted, and hit? He doesn’t know anyone else who’s been through that before, but he’s going to find out how to deal with it. Hopefully.  
  
Barry shakes himself back into the moment, where she’s looking at him expectantly, and he nods. “Ye- yeah! Yeah, I remember. I’ll see you tomorrow- or, uh, the day after tomorrow, then?” She ducks her head in agreement.  
  
The next time the waiter passes, he flags them down and asks for the check and four large to go boxes, although he’s not sure they’ll need that many. It’s best to make sure. They pack all of it into three boxes, and he sends her home with two of them, including the remains of the chalupa she enjoyed so much. The bill for the meal was large, much larger than he could usually afford, but as he watches her go, striding down the beach with the confidence of someone who has nothing to fear and nothing to hide, he thinks, again, _She was so, so worth it._  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
She’s good to her word, and she comes back the next day, sitting down next to Barry on the grass. “You know,” she says, “this is kind of like, our spot now. You ‘n’ me, readin’ a book. You should teach me how to read your language. I want to be able to read on my own. And where can I find more books? Are books an open access thing?”  
  
“I agree, I will definitely teach you how to read, the library, and yes, are the answers to your questions and statements, in that order,” Barry replies, closing his book with a finger to mark his page. “How were you able to understand and speak English so fast, but you can’t read?”  
  
She shrugs. “Not sure. I think gems are pre-programmed with the ability to adapt to any spoken language? I have no idea why- it’s not like Homeworld tends to actually communicate with aliens much before they conquer their planets. Also dunno why they wouldn't also help us comprehend other writing systems right away.”

Well, that’s a bit disturbing, but it slots another piece of the puzzle into place, and she doesn’t seem to want to elaborate, so he shrugs as well. He’s about to ask her if she wants to start learning to read English now, when she beats him to the chase, and says, “I chose a name, by the way.”  
  
“Oh?” Barry raises his eyebrows, turning towards her out of interest. He notes that she’s wearing the hoodie again today, and wonders if she’ll let him wash it at home, and patch it up so it doesn’t have a bunch of holes and tears.  
  
“Mhm,” she hums. “It’s Chalupa. Lup for short. I like it a lot. 9-IO, biggs, rainy, and cap’n all like the idea of our own names, after I told them about it. They can get their own, though, ‘cause I’m not sharing.” She flops down on the grass, laying out and stretching herself into a big X. “Anyways. I’m not feeling like getting up again, so read away, Barry!”

He does. He reads to her from Stardust, one of his favorites, and this time, he does voices for the characters, and even acts out a few of the parts, as best as he can with only one hand free. He’s not really sure if he does a good job, but he gets a laugh out of Lup, so he counts it as a win. This time, they manage to get through the whole book in one sitting, although the sun is still setting by the time they finish. He stands up, and offers Lup a hand, and to his surprise, she accepts, and pulls herself up. She doesn't really weigh much, despite being tall. Maybe it’s because she’s made of light, or because she’s skinny. Either way, she’s easy to lift.

“I was thinking,” Barry says, and Lup raises her eyebrows as if to ask him, “Really?” He nods, cheeks pink, and continues, “I was thinking maybe you could come to the library with me. It’s got a lot more books, and tables so I can teach you English’s writing system. Not everything they have there is fiction, either, so- what are you looking at me like that for?”

Lup is staring at him in shock, but she manages to gasp, “Fiction. As in, fictional? Not real? You mean that stuff didn't actually happen??”

Barry laughs a little. “What, gems don't…. have fictional literature?” Lup shakes her head, and the smile slides off his face to be replaced by a grimace. “Ah. Okay. Well, it’s a big thing here. Do you have… art? Music?” Each question makes her shake her head, and he begins to grasp the enormity of the task laid out before him. He takes a deep breath, and sighs it out. “Okay! Let’s start with books, then, since we’ve already established what they are. After you learn to read English, I’ll introduce you to other stuff fully. One thing at a time.”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s go.” She lets him lead the way, and he sets a brisk pace, knowing she and her long legs can keep up.

They spend the rest of the day at the library. Once Barry teaches Lup the English alphabet, its phonetic values, and how to construct words- which, surprisingly, only takes about an hour and a half- she starts to devour first the children’s and beginner’s texts, soaking up information at a truly impressive and only somewhat alarming rate. She’s on to novels by the end of the fourth hour there, and has finished one and a half of them by the end of the sixth. Barry gets her her own library card so she can check out books. She checks out three biology textbooks in ascending order of difficulty and a fantasy novel about dragons, and when they part ways, she carries them off towards the cliffs, where he’s pretty sure her home is.

The next day, she's finished all four of them and returns them to the library, checking out four more, one of the new books being a dictionary. Her curiosity and desire for new information is voracious and indiscriminate. Barry admires and even somewhat envies it. They sit on the grass, in what she dubbed “their spot”, and read together, the silence breaking only when Lup stops to ask Barry a question. Usually he refers her to the dictionary if she needs a definition of something lost in translation, but other times, she asks his opinion. She also reads him excerpts that she finds interesting or funny, and he always enjoys them.  
  
On the third day after she learns how to read English, the fourth day she’s spent consecutively with him, he asks her about her friends.

“You mentioned a captain,” he starts, and she ducks her head in a nod. “What kind of gem is she?”

“A ruby,” she replies, with an uneasy look on her face, before she visibly relaxes herself and laughs softly. “I keep expecting you to have the reactions gems would to hearing this kind of stuff,” she explains, when he shoots her an inquisitive look. “Rubies aren't supposed to be captains. They can lead their own teams of rubies, like a squad leader, but other than that? They’re like, the grunts of the army. They can't just lead other types of gems.”

Barry nods, filing away that information away. “So, what’s she like?”

Lup grins. “She’s amazing. She’s an incredible pilot, one of the best I’ve ever seen, and she's the only reason, I think, that we’re all even here, and not shattered or back on Homeworld.”

“And the others? You told me about your other pearl friend.”

She gets a sort of contemplative look on her face, then, and says, “We’re more than just friends. We’re not “dating”, as you humans would call it. I think it’s more like… twins? You know the long bit on my gem? She’s got one of those, too. I’ve been wondering about it lately, but I don't know of any precedent that would explain it.” She shrugs. “In any case, she’s great. You know…..” She taps her chin. “Maybe I’ll introduce you all to each other, sometime. Anyways! There’s two more: Biggs Jasper, we call her Biggs usually, and Rainforest Jasper, or Rainy. That’s all five of us.”

“How do you all know each other?”

Lup gets a faraway look on her face for a good few moments, before she pats his shoulder gently. “I’ll tell you later. Some other time. It’s not a fun story.” He accepts that, and they both go back to reading. Before the sun sets that day, though, and Lup leaves, Barry asks her another question.

“Do you want to come see my house, sometime?”

She blinks, and her eyes shift upwards, like she's trying to remember the definition of “house”. When she’s got it, her eyes lock back on him, and she nods. “How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow sounds good,” he agrees, and they go their separate ways.


End file.
